Japan and America may share values such as democracy, rule of law, freedom of expression and protection of human rights. But do we share the same national mentality?
If the Japanese people knew what is being debated among Americans in this year's presidential elections, they would realize just how different our two countries are. Furthermore, Americans are divided over almost all the issues.
In the Aug. 15 New York Times op-ed "Republican Extremism, Bad Economics", American Steven Rattner wrote that the extent of ideological divergence is the greatest in the past 120 years, and this is due to conservatives' moving even further to the right. Right-leaning conservatives are attacking the systems and principles that lie at the very foundation of the country.